The invention relates generally to suturing instruments for passing needled sutures through body tissue.
An increasing number of surgical techniques are now performed endoscopically to reduce trauma associated with large incisions generally required in open surgery. These techniques involve extracorporeal manipulation of a surgical instrument, while viewing the surgical site with an endoscope, with both the instrument and endoscope passed through small incisions or portals of the body. The surgical instrument is often placed through an appropriately sized cannula which extends from the portal to the surgical site to facilitate maneuvering of the surgical instrument.
Arthroscopic surgery is a type of endoscopic procedure performed at the joint of the body, for example, to repair the meniscus of the knee or the rotator cuff and Bankart tendon in the shoulder. In such surgeries, suture is used to stitch and reattach torn cartilage, tendons or ligaments to tissue or bone.
One approach for arthroscopically stitching a needled suture uses a suturing forceps of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,747 entitled "Suture Passing Forceps," which is incorporated herein by reference. The suture-passing forceps includes upper and lower jaws with a needled suture positioned within the lower jaw during delivery to a surgical site. In its open suturing position, the damaged tissue to be stitched is placed between the upper and lower jaws and hooked on a pointed tip of a needle. The jaws are then closed by pivotal actuation to pass the needled suture from the lower jaw to the upper jaw, thereby punching the needle through the damaged tissue being sutured. The suturing process can be repeated by reinserting the needled suture into the lower jaw, where it is ready to be passed again through the tissue. A suture-passing forceps of this type offers one-step suture passing, one-handed suturing action, passive capturing of the needle within the jaws of the forceps, and complete removal of the needled suture from the suturing assembly after passing the needle and suture through the tissue.